Business or vacation – what this means is prison.  Similar in theme of a boy left alone to Emir Kuristica’s WHEN FATHER WAS AWAY ON BUSINESS, Brazilian Cao Hamburger’s tale of a middle-class boy left to his own devices is a melancholy sort of coming-of-age journey of Mauro (Michel Joelsas).

Left to live with his Jewish grandfather who has just passed on, Mauro is instead taken care of by neighbour, Schlomo (Germano Haiut).  The bonding between the young Mauro and the old solitary Jew is the best thing the film has to offer.

Hamburger’s film is manipulative in a way that he uses the neighbouring girl’s peephole show as a means of Mauro’s trip to manhood and his friendship with a local agitator as political awareness.  The setting of the action during the soccer world cup is a nice touch to enliven the mood of the movie.  It is difficult not to feel as elated as the characters when Brazil scores a goal during the match.  What I also do not comprehend is the reason behind Mauro’s parents not telling him the truth.  After all, Mauro is big enough to understand such matters (unlike the boy in FATHER AWAY ON BUSINESS).  In the same way, Hamburger never allows his audience more intelligence to appreciate a film that is essentially sentimental and slight.  He could also do well to explain more of the political unrest and the military influence present during those times.

This was Brazil’s entry to this year’s Oscar Best Foreign Film category.  YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION is not a bad movie – well acted, reasonably scripted and shot, but it somehow misses its point by taking two issues – rites of passage and bonding – and not concentrating on one.